Lakers Fans Weigh-In on How LA Will Finish Regular Season
There’s 24 games left in the regular season for the Lakers. They’ll enjoy more than week off during the All-Star break. LA is currently 27-31 (9th in the West). The question is, where will they end up?
According to some Lakers fans, not too far from where they are right now.
If the Lakers are unable to climb above the seventh-seed by the end of the regular season, they’ll be part of the NBA play-in tournament.
In the newly fangled NBA play-in tournament, the seventh-seed and eighth-seed teams face-off. The winner earns the seventh-seed. The loser, plays the winner of ninth-seed and tenth-seed matchup.
In short, finishing seventh or eighth puts a team in a double-elimination scenario to make the playoffs. Ending the regular season in the ninth or tenth spot means a team is not afforded a single loss if they want to make it to the postseason.
The Lakers were in the play-in tournament last season, the inaugural year . They narrowly beat the Warriors to earn the seventh-seed and a matchup against the Phoenix Suns. LA was up 2-1 on the Suns before Anthony Davis got injured. The Lakers would go on to lose the series 4-2.
On Wednesday night, Anthony Davis severely rolled his ankle. It’s been reported that he’ll miss at least four weeks.
Meaning, it’s up to Lebron, Russ, and the rest of the Lakers roster to elevate themselves to the eighth-seed to avoid a do-or-die play-in game.
Entering the All-Star break, the Lakers are just one game behind the Clippers.
As fate would have it, the Lakers first game back is against the Clippers on February 25th.
